The Toronto Rock played it's inaugural game tonight at the Baltimore Arena, but Gary Gait single handily kept Toronto from opening up the season with a win. The Baltimore Thunder crushed the Toronto Rock 21-10 by a spectacular effort from four-time league MVP Gary Gait.

Gait finished with ten goals, tying the league record set by brother Paul in 1994, and three assists to pace the Thunder in a game that saw the Thunder never trail. For his efforts, Gait was the obvious choice for Game MVP.

Before an announced crowd of 5,738, the Thunder jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals by Gary Gait. The second of the night came in spectacular fashion as Gait drove past the Rock defense and scored a behind the back goal on Toronto Rock goalkeeper Bob Watson. The Toronto Rock soon responded with a goal by former Thunder player Chris Gill at the 5:04 mark of the first period. But Gait again answered with a goal of his own at the 6:11 mark to give him a natural hat trick less than 9:00 into the game. Chris Gill again kept the Rock within two goals scoring his second and only goals of the night at the 6:59 mark of the first period. But the Rock could not stop Baltimore's offense. A Matt Shearer goal, followed by Rodney Tapp short-handed goal, gave the Thunder a 5-2 lead and the rout was on.

At the end of the first period, the Thunder had outplayed the Rock and built a 7-5 lead which chased Toronto starting Goalie Bob Watson from the game after facing just twelve shots and saving only six. He was replaced by Rob Blaisdell. The Thunder quickly tested the new goalkeeper with a furry of shots and built a 9-5 lead on goals by Gary Gait. Toronto head coach Les Bartley then inserted starting goalie Bob Watson back into the game at the 9:31 mark of the second period. The goalie switch seemed to have neither an effect on the Thunder offense nor the Toronto defense, with Baltimore taking an 11-6 halftime lead.

The Thunder again struck first in the second half with a power play goal by Gary Gait. The Thunder's potent power play line was 6-for-7 on the night and at time looked as though could not be stopped. The power play was led again by newcomer Joe Hiltz who had another great game by chipping in two goals and six assists. After a power play goal by Toronto's Colin Doyle at the 6:13 mark, the Thunder added another short handed goal by Matt Shearer. Shearer continued his hot start by again adding five goals to go along with two assists. Gait and Shearer each scorer for the Thunder before the 3rd period was over to pad the lead to 16-8 and again chased goalie Bob Watson to the bench for Rob Blaisdell. The fourth quarter was no different than the rest of the game.

Baltimore just seemed to out hustle and out play the Toronto squad. Five fourth quarter goals, three while on the power play for the Thunder, turned the game into an all out rout and the Toronto team seemed to take exception. A fight broke out with fifty-three seconds left in the game when Quint Kessenich drove hard to the net and slammed into goalie Blaisdell. Toronto players quickly responded and came to the defense of their goalie. Ten players in all received penalties for roughing as the referees finally restored order.

The game ended with the Thunder outscoring the Rock 10-4 in the second half to win the game 21-10. With strong performances by Gait, Shearer, Hiltz, Tapp, Sanderson, and the defensive unit, the Thunder improved to 2-0 and took a quick lead in the NLL standings, and head to Buffalo to face the 1-0 Bandits next week. For the Toronto Rock, the lackluster performance by the entire team must have been more disheartening than the actual defeat itself.

The lackluster effort can be traced, at least in part, to the late arrival of the Rock. Fog at Washington-Baltimore International Airport caused the club to arrive from Toronto only an hour before the scheduled start of the game. Even so, Les Bartley is going to have to try and find away to get the team back that finished so strong at the end of last season in order to make a playoff run.

BOX SUMMARY
                                  1  2  3  4     TOT
Toronto Rock (0-1)                5  1  2  2  --  10
Baltimore Thunder (2-0)           7  4  5  5  --  21

TORONTO ROCK                  BALTIMORE THUNDER
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Heard          2 - 2     4    G Gait        10 - 3    13
Stroup         1 - 3     4    Hiltz          2 - 6     8
Doyle          1 - 2     3    Shearer        5 - 2     7
Veltman        1 - 2     3    Tapp           1 - 4     5
Gill           2 - 0     2    Cantabene      0 - 3     3
Biesel         1 - 1     2    C Sanderson    0 - 3     3
Williams       1 - 1     2    Tillman        1 - 1     2
Keenan         0 - 2     2    Fay            0 - 2     2
Harrison       1 - 0     1    Fulks          0 - 2     2
Clark          0 - 1     1    Ryan           0 - 2     2
Langdale       0 - 1     1    Evans          1 - 0     1
R Squire       0 - 1     1    Hormes         1 - 0     1
                              Kessenich      0 - 1     1
                              Shek           0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           52    Shots on goal           71
Saves made by           50    Saves made by           42
   Watson           29           C Sanderson      33
   Blaisdell        21           E Miller          9
Penalties               14    Penalties               14
Penalty Minutes         28    Penalty Minutes         28
Power Play Chances       6    Power Play Chances       7
Power Play Goals         4    Power Play Goals         6

*** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH BALTIMORE SUN ***

The Baltimore Sun contributed to this game report.